The Financial Post reports in its Thursday edition that a global oversupply of uranium, partly brought on by the closures of dozens of nuclear reactors in Japan, continues to buffet Cameco as it issues pink slips and warns investors that its financials are worse than expected. A Canadian Press dispatch to the Post reports that Cameco said analyst estimates are too high and it expects to report a net loss in 2016 as it writes down the value of its assets.

Spokesman Gord Struthers says the disappointing news stems from a range of one-off charges last year totalling $120-million related mostly to the closure of its Rabbit Lake mine, corporate restructuring and increased legal fees. He says: "2016 was an unusual year. There were a lot of developments for the company that impacted our earnings." Mr. Struthers says Cameco also had to write down the book value of its assets, which will help knock down adjusted earnings by between $180-million and $220-million for the year. He says, "Because the market for uranium is weak, it requires us to write down the value of some of the assets that are on our books." That weakness has persisted for years, particularly since the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster.